Friday, September 30, 2011

The article linked below highlights the need for communities experiencing boom times to plan for the future. Collaborative Construction is working on a collaborative workshop series that will be presented in Canada and we would like to visit our friends in North Dakota while we are in Canada.

The shale oil and gas reserves being discovered throughout North America are going to have long term geo-political ramifications. The availability of "ethical oil" at low prices is going to break OPEC's monopoly and the economic, political and cultural fallout is going to send shockwaves around the world. Dictatorships throughout the middle east will continued to be impacted as will our allies and enemies elsewhere around the world. Below are a few excerpts from the NPR piece. These boom towns represent tremendous opportunities for advocates of IPD, BIM and lean business processes as the mechanisms by which integrated teams plan, design, construct, operate and maintain lend themsevles to task of solving the complex array of problems these communities face.

Amy Myers Jaffe of Rice University says in the next decade, new oil in the US, Canada and South America could change the center of gravity of the entire global energy supply.

"Some are now saying, in five or 10 years' time, we're a major oil-producing region, where our production is going up," she says.

The US, Jaffe says, could have 2 trillion barrels of oil waiting to be drilled. South America could hold another 2 trillion. And Canada? 2.4 trillion. That's compared to just 1.2 trillion in the Middle East and north Africa.Jaffe says those new oil reserves, combined with growing turmoil in the Middle East, will "absolutely propel more and more investment into the energy resources in the Americas."

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The article linked below describes a break through by researchers at Rice University who have created a carbon nanotube based cable to carry electrical current. Advances in nanotechnologies will, eventually, impact the BUILT environment in ways we cannot even imagine today.

Making lightweight, efficient carbon nanotube wiring as conductive as copper has been a goal of nanotechnologists since the 1980s. Individual carbon nanotubes—hollow nanoscale tubes of pure carbon—are mechanically strong and an order of magnitude more conductive than copper. But unless carbon nanotubes are put together just so, larger structures made from them don't have the superlative properties of the individual tubes.

The production process sounds remarkable simple to my uneducated mind. If a noncorrodable easily installed product weighing 1/6th what cooper weighs enters the market the potential for innovation in all things electronic seems immense to me.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Canada's vast oil sands represent a huge percentage of the world's proven oil reserves and, as noted earlier on this Blog, those reserves are being developed in an environmentally conscious way by our neighbors to the north. An online non-profit group has been promoting Canadian oil as "Ethical Oil" and the campaign struck a chord with me. Apparently is struck a less pleasant chord with the Saudis who are now threatening legal action against Canadian media outlets that air ads advocating Ethical Oil. In the article linked below the founder of the non-profit group contends:

Normally, Islamic extremists focus their hatred on the Great Satan — the United States. But Canada is now an enemy of the Saudis, too. Because we’re competitors to them for oil. Within ten years, the oilsands could totally replace Saudi exports to the U.S.

Below is a link to one of the the grou['s ads and to the article. From my perspective the Saudis would be better served by addressing the underlying issues that give rise to the criticism than bullying Canadian media outlets. In our interconnected web-driven world it strikes me as a bad idea to seek to suppress free speech from half way around the world. You can check out the video and read the article and form your own opinions.

Monday, September 19, 2011

I'm finalizing my AUGIWorld Magazine Article for the BUILT - BIM to FM section of the magazine and the topic is wicked problems that require wicked tools and wicked solutions. In researching the topic I came across the article linked below. Wouldn't it be cool if sophisticated owners of complex facilties poured the speicfications for their facilities into an online BIM pot and allowed a distributed network of innovative young designers to collaboratively create best in class design solutions in a gaming environment? Heck, we might even come up with a cool name for the process like, BIMStorm or something.

The article provides:

Gamers have solved the structure of a retrovirus enzyme whose configuration had stumped scientists for more than a decade. The gamers achieved their discovery by playing Foldit, an online game that allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Collaborative Construction is putting together a Collaborative Solutions Series that will be presented in six cities in Canada in 2012. It looks like we may want to swing south into Williston on our way across Canada!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Because California lacks sufficient regulations! I was hoping this was a link to the Onion or some other online parody, but alas, it's not.

You cannot make this stuff up!

Proponents of the “bird-safe” building standards told the board’s land use committee that clear glass window panes pose a hazard to migratory and local birds because they don’t necessarily recognize that glass is in their flight pattern, resulting in dead or injured birds upon impact. The proposed legislation would require builders to install treated windows on any new construction determined to pose a great risk to birds.

Monday, September 12, 2011

The WSJ article linked below serves as another reminder of what an incredible economic driver oil & gas exploration can be. Further, Candada seems to be developing its oil sands in a remarkably environmentally friendly manner.

Several recent studies have highlighted the value to the US economy of releasing the regulatory shackles from the oil & gas industry here. Importantly, no one is advocating unbridled or uncontrolled development. In fact, environmentally responsible development costs a little more but produces more jobs as well, as exploration and development companies are required to remediate the environmental impact of their operations.

Alberta's oil and gas industry supports more than 271,000 direct jobs and hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs in sectors such as construction, manufacturing and financial services. The province has an unemployment rate of 5.6%. There are also some 960 American companies involved in Alberta energy, supplying equipment and technology, among other things. As an example, Mr. Liepert says, "dozens of Caterpillar tractors, made in Illinois and Michigan and costing $5 million a piece" work the oil sands. He says the region is on track to create more than 400,000 direct American jobs by 2035. The Bakken region of North Dakota, where private land ownership gives drillers relief from federal obstructionism, shares a similar, if smaller, story. Oil production there is booming, and North Dakota unemployment is 3.3%.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The term "LEED-igation" is a cleaver description of what I've been warning of on this blog for years. In the context of building performance service providers at every level need to under promise and over deliver. The pipeline of LEED-lawsuits is only beginning to fill. Once the plaintiffs' lawyers draw blood the sharks will be drawn the wreckage like - well sharks.

This topic fits hand in glove with my mantra that BIM has become the new standard of care in the planning, design and construction industry.

LEEDigation, a term coined by Christopher Cheatham, principal of The Law Office of Christopher W. Cheatham LLP and publisher of Green Building Law Update (www.greenbuildinglawupdate.com), encompasses a multitude of potential disputes that arise from LEED certification, green technology, and all other green building components.

I'm not sure how this will fit into the construction world, but ya'll know I don't need much an excuse to post nano-tech updates.

E. Charles Sykes at Tufts University in Boston and colleagues turned to asymmetric butyl methyl sulphide, a sulphur atom with a chain of four carbons on one side and a lone carbon atom on the other. They anchored the molecule to a copper surface via the sulphur atom, producing a lopsided, horizontal "propeller" that is free to rotate about the vertical copper-sulphur bond (see diagram).

Friday, September 2, 2011

Are lenders begining to talk to contractors BEFORE they finance the project? Are they also talking to contractors DURING the project? Oh my. What a novel concept. In the article in Ingrams linked below two Kansas City lawyers describe the epiphany their lending clients are experiencing. If only we could convince lenders to offer lower interest rates on financing for IPD projects where EVERYBODY talks BEFORE, DURING and AFTER the project. Should they? Yes. Will they? Not likely.

What's next, insurance companies talking to the participants of a project BEFORE they start suing each other? Let's hope.

Below is an excerpt from Collaborative Construction's marketing materials detailing the benefits of integrating lending instruments, legal agreements and insurance products - including surety bonds - on projects deploying IPD, BIM and Lean porcesses. Could it be that lenders and insurers - who have been HAMMERED by bad loans / claims in the downturn - are finally ready to talk IPD, BIM and Lean? Let's hope.

Collaborative Solutions SeriesExecutive Summary

Collaborative Solutions Drive Profits

Innovation, modern problems and modern solutions are complex. This complexity creates opportunities for innovators. Collaborative Solutions empowers clients to deploy innovative solutions to complex problems in the $4.6 trillion global construction industry. Many possess the infrastructure and capacity to leverage solutions in complex environments across multiple markets. Collaborative Solutions provides a roadmap for integrating planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance services with innovative lending instruments, legal agreements and insurance products for clients interested in doing so.

Manufacturers who pioneered business process integration reap benefits globally. Sophisticated manufacturers track conceptualization, design, fabrication, sales, distribution, warranties, service, and every other facet of a product’s life cycle. The same is rarely true of a facility or supporting infrastructure. However, emerging market forces – driven in large part by environmental concerns and government mandates – are pressuring the fragmented and dysfunctional construction industry to deliver high performance buildings and functional digital assets. This the industry cannot do sans integration. Insurers who support new generation integrated tools with integrated insurance products will increase profits.

About Us

James is President of Collaborative Construction Resources, (CCR) a company that empowers stakeholders in the U.S Construction Industry to utilize collaborative agreements, BIM and lean construction methods to deliver construction services more efficiently and productively. James is an experienced construction lawyer and he serves on both the National Building Information Model Standards (NBIMS) Project Committee and the Build SMART Alliance's Business Process Integration Task Team, (BPITT). Consumers of construction services want to see increased efficiency and productivity in the industry and James is working hard to make that happen!
James and his family live in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. You can contact James at 859-441-6033 or by email at James.Salmon [at sign] CollaborativeCR.com